On Book Cover Design Title and Author Name Placement: Traditionally when designing a cover for a book, the title goes at the top in a large font, subtitle smaller below and author’s name in a different font at the bottom. Tradition: a long-established or inherited way of thinking or acting a continuing pattern of culture beliefs or practices a customary or characteristic method or manner ~ Dictionary.com There is no hard and fast rule that says this is always the case. When an author becomes famous, i.e. Stephen King, Patricia Cornwell, J.K. Rowling, etc. the name becomes the selling point and so, it is the focal point of the cover. The title is almost insignificant at this point; the publishers know the book will sell on merit of the author’s name alone. However, you don’t have to be famous to have your name at the top of the cover. Any cover artist may put the author’s name at the top of the cover and the title in the middle or any other place he/she deems of artistic value without breaking any unwritten rules of book design etiquette. Go into any library or book store and browse the cover art. You will see titles in all sorts of places, from top to bottom, left to right and even upside down on a cover just to make a point! The same goes for the author names. Having said all that, there are some rules of thumb; the title should be large enough to read at a glance easily, without competing for attention with a busy background. There should be no more than three fonts on the cover; two are usually enough. Fancy decorative fonts make it difficult to read, so most artists stick with serif fonts like Times New Roman or sans serif fonts like Helvetica. However, that does not rule out some decorative fonts that convey the mood of the book better than any other font could. Contact Digital Donna